Clinician Detail

Alexander Hanna - Biographical Information

Alexander Hanna has been featured as performer, teacher and lecturer throughout Asia, Australia, Europe and North America. He was appointed Principal Bass of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by Riccardo Muti in the Spring of 2012. Prior to Chicago, he served as Principal Bass of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for four seasons. Hanna grew up in Bowling Green, Ohio before moving to Cleveland to study at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He then moved on to Philadelphia where he graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music in 2008. Outside of his orchestral engagements Hanna has been featured as concerto soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and also the Bellingham Festival Orchestra. As chamber musician he has collaborated with Jeremy Denk, Yo-Yo Ma Mitsuko Uchida and Dawn Upshaw among others. In the spring of 2016 Hanna and Ma gave the world premier of Matthew Aucoin’s “Dual” for cello and bass. He has also performed at the Bellingham Festival, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, the Pacific Music Festival and the Ravinia Festival. Hanna is on faculty at DePaul University. He is also the bass coach for the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and spends summers coaching the National Youth Orchestra of Carnegie Hall and the Pacific Music Festival. He has given lectures and masterclasses throughout the world at many of the finest Conservatories and Universities. He is and editor and contributor to the International Society of Bassists Journal and has presented at many international conventions and symposia. Alexander is grateful for his teachers who have included Kay Moore, Virginia Marks, Scott Haigh, Hal Robinson and Edgar Meyer.